RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky lacks legitimacy to sign any deal – Putin

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky can participate in possible talks with Moscow if he wishes to, but he lacks the legitimacy to actually sign a peace deal, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Tuesday. 

Negotiating with the de-facto Ukrainian leadership will not have any legal meaning, given that Kiev explicitly banned itself from engaging in talks with Moscow, according to Putin. 

In 2022, Zelensky, whose presidential term officially ended in May 2024, issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with Russia, and President Vladimir Putin specifically, a measure that remains in effect. Last week, Zelensky claimed the ban applies to all Ukrainian officials except himself, although the original decree did not specify a list of entities barred from talking to Russia, stating only that such negotiations were “impossible.”

“If we start negotiations now, they will be illegitimate… Because when the current head of the regime, that’s the only way to call [Zelensky] today, signed this decree, he was a somewhat legitimate president. But now he can’t cancel it, because he is illegitimate. That’s the trick, the catch, the trap,” Putin explained. 

However, the Ukrainian leadership could find a way out of this situation and circumvent the ban, Putin said, suggesting that the country’s parliament could do that. “According to Ukraine’s constitution, the president of Ukraine, even under martial law, cannot extend his term. Only the representative branch can have its term extended, that’s the Ukrainian parliament, while the president only has a five-year term, that’s it,” he said. 

Asked whether Moscow would actually talk to Zelensky if he expresses the desire to do so, Putin said the Ukrainian leader lacks any authority to actually strike any sort of deal with Russia. 

“It’s possible to negotiate with anyone. However, due to his illegitimacy, [Zelensky] has no right to sign anything. If he wishes to participate in talks, I will deploy people who will conduct such negotiations,” Putin said. He stressed that signing any deal would be a “very serious question” and the agreement must “guarantee the security of both Ukraine and Russia” for a “serious” period of time. 

Any potential peace agreement must be flawless from the legal standpoint, Putin emphasized, adding that the authority and legitimacy of Kiev’s negotiating team would be subjected to intense scrutiny and assessed by a whole team of legal experts.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

EU prolongs its Russia sanctions for 6 months after Hungary lifts its objections

The European Union agreed a 6-month extension Monday for a raft of sanctions aimed at depriving Russia of funds to finance its war against Ukraine after Hungary lifted its objections to the move.

The sanctions target trade, finance, energy, technology, industry, transport and luxury goods. They include a ban on the import or transfer of seaborne crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia to the EU. They will now remain in place at least until July 31.

Some measures were introduced in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, but the list grew significantly after Moscow’s full-fledged invasion of its neighbor almost three years ago.

On Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on the EU to intervene in a gas dispute that his country has with Ukraine. He said Kyiv’s decision to halt the transit of Russian gas into Central Europe had forced Hungary to turn to alternative routes, which raised energy prices.

To satisfy Orbán’s demand, the European Commission attached a statement to Monday’s sanctions rollover agreement, saying that it “expects all third countries to respect” EU energy security, and warned that it could take action to protect critical infrastructure like oil and gas pipelines.

“Hungary has received the guarantees it has requested concerning the energy security of our country,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a statement. All 27 EU member countries must agree for the sanctions to be prolonged.

But already last week EU diplomats and officials expected Hungary to end its threatened blockade on the measures after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war in Ukraine.

In a post to his Truth Social site last Wednesday, Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war.” Orbán is seen as Putin’s closest ally in the 27-nation EU, but he’s also a staunch admirer of Trump.

RT/AP